Admittedly, I haven't raced in a very, very long time. Other than some scow racing on the Great Lakes, where the whole crew jumps in the water after setting the chute at the windward mark, leaving the captain to finish the race, I was under the impression that a boat had to finish a race with the same number of crew members it began the race with.
Apparently, NOT SO, in the Louis Vuitton Cup finals! What kind of BS is that?
"It's too difficult to slow those boats to recover crew in the water", some will say. Tough sh*t!
When is it ever OK to lighten a boat by 300 pounds or more in a race? If it's OK, can these boats have some of their heaviest men jump overboard if it's a super close finish?
I'm just flabbergasted by this turn of events in racing. It seems wrong in principle and completely unfair at any time.
What's your opinion?

Of course it wasn't deliberate! Obviously the racing is a very controlled environment and there are chase boats right there that are better equipped to rescue the swimmers than the big cat is, and it would be incredibly dangerous for one of those boats to be forced to turn around and go back with another boat on the course coming at them at 40kts! It only makes sense that they waive that rule in those circumstances. I am sure it would be a different situation if the guys just got up and jumped overboard voluntarily!

ISAF-RRSAC

Rule 47.2 - A yacht shall not permit any person on board to intentionally leave unless ill or injured, except as a result of a capsize, a person leaving shall not be accepted back on board nor replaced during the race.

In other words they are not ALLOWED to pick them up even if they wanted to!

I am amazed that the boat didn't sustain more damage stuffing the bow that badly!

Rule 47.2 - A yacht shall not permit any person on board to intentionally leave unless ill or injured, except as a result of a capsize, a person leaving shall not be accepted back on board nor replaced during the race.

In other words they are not ALLOWED to pick them up even if they wanted to!

Thanks for the edification. However, shouldn't there be some penalty, like having to re-round the last mark or something?
Obviously, these guys did not go overboard intentionally, I'm really NOT that stupid. It wasn't like team NZ really needed to be dumping weight or doing 40 knots at that point in the race anyway.

Rule 47.2 - A yacht shall not permit any person on board to intentionally leave unless ill or injured, except as a result of a capsize, a person leaving shall not be accepted back on board nor replaced during the race.

In other words they are not ALLOWED to pick them up even if they wanted to!

Didn't always used to be that way...

Remember way back when, in a world where SPORTS ILLUSTRATED engaged people like Carleton Mitchell to cover the America's Cup? This from the SI Vault, is a worthwhile read, when the competition - and the writing about it - was far better than yesterday's debacle:

Quote:

Just after the turn the Aussies put on a show to liven things up a bit. Main-sheet man David Forbes leaned outboard to flip the spinnaker sheet over the end of the boom. A surge decanted him overboard, where he was towed alongside, still holding the mainsheet. To a spectator on the lee side he looked like "an oversize sack of potatoes, churning up foam." Quick and husky crewmates hauled him into the cockpit. Had Forbes lost his grip, Gretel would have had to turn back, for the rules require a boat to finish with the same number in crew as she carried at the start.

Dean Barker's composure after the incident yesterday was remarkable, but you've gotta think Team NZ is pretty spooked after this one... After all, this didn't occur during the heat of competition, but simply while attempting to complete the course of a race already won... These stoopid boats are freakin' pit bulls, one just never knows when they're gonna go off...

The last line says it all, the ratings will probably see a bit of a jump after this... Never was the comparison to NASCAR more apt than it was yesterday... Lots of time watching crews banging on damaged sheet metal, or in this case, carbon fiber... A big wreck, miraculously no one is hurt... And, in the end, the race postponed when it starts raining - or, in this case, the wind starts blowing more than 20...

40.7 knots to 13 in the space of one second... Amazing no one was seriously hurt...

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